Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

I joined Baringa because I saw there were great female role models who made me feel like there was a pathway to the top. Building a career from a humble background, I was excited to join Baringa as it's a firm that is not afraid to challenge boundaries. Since then, I found many like-minded people at Baringa who are committed to breaking the corporate mold. We don't think about DEI at just a macro level, we embed it into everything we do. Across the individual offices, sectors and business units, all the way down to a team level, working to ensure everyone feels valued and heard. This isn't one person's issue or one person's problem. We hope and we aim to share the load and ensure that everyone has an ally to turn to and a champion to encourage and to challenge. I appreciate being a trusted advisor to the business and being able to take an active role in driving policy and shaping change. Flagship events are for colleagues and their families, while cultivating an environment where everyone belongs and are always welcome. I love that I can bring my husband to all events and know that he'll have a really good time.

Faith is really important to me. It's a key part of my day-to-day life and I'm glad to be able to share that with my colleagues. Putting people first, that's who we are. We aim for our colleagues, our clients and wider community to feel safe and welcomed at Baringa. We strive to give everyone the tools to actively create an inclusive culture, getting the best out of everyone and recognizing the importance of being able to bring your full selves to work. As we enhance our global presence, we empower our colleagues to further DEI whilst taking into account cultural sensitivities and inclusion norms.

I know working in a male-dominated sector can be tough and it's something we're really keen on balancing at Baringa. We've got a lot of support in place like the Gender Diversity Network, PODS of women's networks and of course allies. I love that we're having candid conversations around identity and background, recognizing how intersectionality plays a part in our lives both inside and outside of the workplace. I love that our ideas are heard and we can have influence. I saw the need for a Neurodiversity network and with the support of my colleagues, I created one. We saw an opportunity to focus our efforts on improving the Black experience and representation at Baringa, so we set up a specific network. We want to create impact by fostering community, advising the business and teaching where appropriate. We developed a psychologically safe space for our ethnically diverse talent to come together and discuss how they could be their most authentic selves at work. By cultivating this space, we're able to have an honest and frank dialogue across Baringa, resulting in our anti-racism pledge and the 10 commitments that hold our business to account.

I'm really proud of the inclusive and diverse business that we've built here at Baringa, but what I'm more interested in is spotting the things that we can change to make us even better. Our commitment to our people remains our number one priority and I want to ensure that as we grow as a business, our culture and people values are really embedded into the fabric of Baringa. We know that we have work to do in increasing our female and ethnically diverse representation at Baringa. We're making headway, but we're not done. This is going to be a long journey and we remain committed to creating the change we want to see. We need to foster equitable support and opportunities, only then will we create impact that lasts. We want to continue these tough conversations, the ones that need a great deal of courage and trust. We've got many of these ahead, I'm sure, and I'm very confident that at Baringa we have the culture and the tools to succeed and learn.